


Warmth

by protect-him (protect_him)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Anders healing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 22:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12263172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protect_him/pseuds/protect-him
Summary: Day three of my writetober continues, with some difficulty. The prompt was "warmth," and I had some trouble executing this, though I had an idea of what I wanted from it.It seems that several people, including myself, have been suffering with a similar affliction recently. Hopefully this sounds as nice to you as it does to me. Who wouldn't enjoy Anders' warm healing hands?





	Warmth

Anders often saw the same people in his clinic. Whether the same illnesses or different ones, the same faces often appeared in his doorway.

It was a cold day. Kirkwall didn’t have snow, but Anders felt it would have been cold enough for snow. He hurried back with a fresh armful of supplies.

A woman met him at the door.

“Healer,” she said, entreatingly, one hand moving to her stomach. Anders smiled and ushered her inside. Providing relief for cramps and back pains was one of his more commonly requested services, and also one of his favorites to perform.

After depositing his supplies in a messy pile on his worktable, Anders went to where the woman had seated herself on a cot.

“Does your back hurt as well?” He asked quietly, to which she nodded.

“Alright, let me get a blanket for you. Lie down however is most comfortable for you.”

When Anders returned, the woman was on her side, her legs folded and tucked close to her body. Anders lay the blanket over her. He preferred having the extra layer between himself and his patients, plus he had noticed that they generally found it more comforting.

“I’m going to start with your back,” he said gently, and placed his hands on her lower back with his palms just on either side of her spine and his fingers pointing outwards towards her sides. The spell that seemed to work best was Panacea, and then a stroke of a simple heat spell to go along with it. It worked wonders. The combination of the soothing spell, the heat, and the gentle pressure of Anders’ hands left many of his patients believing he was a miracle worker.

Anders could feel the slightest movement beneath his hands. Sometimes, gentle pressure with his thumbs had his patients relaxing. Other times, he was moving his hands quickly back and forth across the skin, generating both heat, healing, and friction that would soothe away deep, lingering aches.

The stomach was more sensitive, and Anders worried sometimes that he’d make a patient uncomfortable, but as yet, he never had. The best thing he’d found was gentle circles with a light, constant pressure and a slightly stronger heat spell. A more generic healing spell finished off his session. He’d been told it helped keep the pain away for longer once they left.

The woman sat up and clasps his hands gratefully. She had tears in her eyes.

“Thank you, healer,” she said, breathless. “I can move again.”

“Of course,” Anders responded. “Anytime. Please, do not hesitate to come.”

She nodded, pulled an apple from the pocket in her dress, and placed it on his worktable before leaving.

That was when Anders noticed Fenris.

Fenris sat at his worktable. The mess that Anders had left had been organized into neat piles, and some of the items had even been put away.

“Fenris?”

Fenris looked over at Anders, unsure if he would be welcome. Anders had insisted that he was anytime, but their relationship was fresh and tentative.

Anders picked up the apple left for him and smoothed a thumb across the surface.

“I hope I am not intruding,” Fenris said. 

Anders shook his head.

“What were you healing?” Fenris asked.

“She had stomach cramps and back pain,” Anders replied, taking the apple towards the corner which functioned as a small kitchen. He began to cut it into slices.

“You heal even such things as those?”

“Nothing is too insignificant. They may be a part of those women’s lives, but it’s not something they should have to live through. Especially when it is so painful,” Anders said.

Fenris hummed, musing on Anders’ reply. Female slaves were never expected to perform their duties any differently when they were experiencing what they expressed to be great pain. Fenris used to be convinced that they were making it up, for he truly saw no difference.

“They truly are in pain then,” he said.

“I can...sense—and in a way, measure the pain,” Anders said. “It is sometimes more intense than even a wound, say, from an arrow. Certainly worse than a scrape or a cut. It’s deep, and intense, just kind of an...ache that remains steady. I would not want to actually experience it.”

Fenris nodded and stood slowly.

“Would you like some of this apple?” Anders asked, offering it to Fenris, who nodded and accepted a slice.

“Anders—”

“Is something wrong?”

“My feet...and my back…” Fenris murmured, looking away.

Immediately, Anders crossed the room to stand beside him.

“What’s wrong?”

“My back I do not know,” Fenris admitted. “It has been aching for several days now. My feet—” he grinned sheepishly “—are just cold.”

“Well you came to the right place.” Anders took the elf’s arm and herded him into his back bedroom. “I am more than happy to help you.”

Fenris lay down on the bed, turning onto his stomach so Anders could touch his back.

Gently, knowing that Fenris was sensitive to touch, Anders ran a hand from one shoulder blade down to the small of his back.

“Where does it hurt most?” Anders asked.

“There,” Fenris said, meaning where Anders’ hand currently rested in the small curve of his spine.

“Perhaps you hurt it doing some exercises or sleeping poorly,” Anders suggested. “Will you tell me if one of my spells hurts?”

Fenris nodded, and Anders activated Panacea. Fenris didn’t flinch or react other than letting out a relieved sigh. So Anders tried the heat spell as well. Again, with no reaction from Fenris.

“Everything ok?”

“Your hands…”

“Something wrong?” Anders asked, pulling his hands away from Fenris’s back.

“They feel pleasant,” Fenris said. “Please do not stop.”

Anders did not stop until he had soothed Fenris’s back. In fact, he did more than Fenris probably needed, but the touch was enjoyable for Anders as well, and he loved the way the elf relaxed even as Anders worked his fingers into Fenris’s knotted muscles.

“How are your feet?” Anders asked. “Any better?”

Fenris’s toes curled.

“No.”

“Let me help.” Anders put one hand on Fenris’s foot.

“Wait!” Fenris pulled his feet away suddenly. He looked over his shoulder at Anders.

“I thought you meant to bring out a bucket of hot water,” Fenris said.

“I was just going to do it the same way as your back.”

“But—but those are my  _ feet _ .”

“Yes. So?”

“I would not ask you to touch them,” Fenris said. “That is something a slave would do.”

“I’m no slave,” Anders said, “I am a healer, and this is what I do.”

Fenris balked, but eventually Anders convinced him to let him try.

As he probed Fenris’s feet and began warming them with a stronger heat spell, Anders discovered that there were several places where he could heal and soothe away pain. 

Fenris continued to shift uncomfortably during the ordeal, but didn’t say another word.

“How does that feel?” Anders asked once he had completed.

“Anders—” Fenris turned towards the mage. “I am so grateful,” he said. “I did not know I could feel this way.”

“It’s amazing how much simply the warmth helps,” Anders agreed.

Fenris turned around to sit up and reached for Anders’ arm. He pulled the mage closer and wrapped his arms around him.

Now it was Anders’ turn to relax in the warmth of the touch.

“I’m glad you got tired of arguing with me,” Anders said, smiling a little as he hugged Fenris back.

“Oh, I’m not finished arguing with you,” Fenris said, “I just think this way will be more pleasurable, because we can kiss and make up afterwards.”

“Where is my kiss then?”

“We haven’t argued yet.”

“I just gave you a back rub and I don’t get a kiss.”

“I can make an exception I suppose this time,” Fenris said, grabbing Anders’ face and kissing him soundly. Anders could feel the elf smiling and his own cheeks warming with a blush.

He reached to brush a hand through Fenris’s hair. Far from dismissing his magic and his healing abilities, Fenris had turned towards embracing them, expressing pride in his generous mage. Anders hugged Fenris tightly. He had no desire to let go or to let this blossoming relationship go cold.

And neither did Fenris, it seemed, judging by the flush on his own cheeks as he pulled away from Anders and smiled at him with a happy contentment that Anders didn’t remember having seen before on the elf. Yes, Anders wanted this warm feeling in his chest to continue.


End file.
